Just launched from Washington, London, Strasbourg, France and other cities around the globe, International Polar Year will involve an estimated 50,000 scientists in 63 nations in the most sweeping investigation into the Arctic and Antarctic ever conducted. More than 200 projects will survey the polar regions.

The United States prepared for the Mar. 1 official start of International Polar Year with an event on Feb. 26, 2007 hosted by the National Academies and the National Science Foundation.

A webcast of the event with a video on the vision for International Polar Year can be accessed from U.S. government’s International Polar Year website at http://www.ipy.gov/DesktopModules/Articles/ArticleDetails.aspx?ItemID=181

Government leaders included Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett and USGS Director Mark Myers. In addition, a panel of polar scientists described the latest research and presented an overview of expeditions to take place during the polar year.

Although the Arctic and Antarctic conjure up images of “intrepid pioneers, penguins and polar bears in intriguing but inhospitable areas…polar regions are remote only in their geographic distance from the planet’s concentrations of populations,” said Deputy Secretary Scarlett. “They are not remote in their relevance. Polar regions are interconnected with the ebbs and flows of planetary changes critical to global climate, for example. Changes in our polar conditions affect biological, atmospheric and human systems around the world.”

International Polar Year will involve diverse scientific expeditions and projects, examining a wide range of physical, biological and social research topics. It provides an unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate and get involved with cutting edge science in real-time.

Organized through the International Council for Science and the World Meteorological Organization , this is actually the fourth polar year, following those in 1882-3, 1932-3, and 1957-8. In order to have full and equal coverage of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, this polar year cycles from March 2007 to March 2009 to allow each pole to run through a full summer and winter.

The Department of the Interior and several of its agencies—notably the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Minerals Management Service—are participating agencies in International Polar Year.

USGS Director Mark Myers noted that during the International Polar Year, USGS scientists will conduct research at both the North Pole and the South Pole, collecting information on polar conditions and studying their interaction with and influence on oceans, the atmosphere, landmasses, and ecosystems to understand and forecast global climate conditions.

USGS projects include:

• a satellite image atlas of the world’s glaciers,
  
• coastal change maps of Antarctica,
• a Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica LIMA)
• petroleum resources studies
• the U.S.-Antarctic photography collection and
• Antarctic seismology

Working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS also will study how the future of many Arctic animals and ecosystems is linked to the fate of the Arctic ice pack.

Scientists from our USGS Alaska Science Center will continue to monitor and assess the health and sustainability of polar bears, walruses and their essential sea-ice habitats.

On Dec. 27, 2006, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and initiating a comprehensive scientific review to assess the current status and future of the species.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists will use the next 12 months to gather more information, undertake additional analyses, and assess the reliability of relevant scientific models before making a final decision whether to list the species. The public was invited to submit comments on the proposed regulation listing the polar bear.

The Fish and Wildlife Service also is the lead U.S. agency for the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program, an international network of key scientists and conservation experts from eight Arctic countries, including international Indigenous and conservation organizations.

This monitoring program has been developed by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group, in response to directives by the Arctic Council Ministers, and numerous international agreements and conventions that are promoting the importance of biodiversity conservation, preservation of ecosystems and sustainable development in the face of global change.

Currently led by Canada, the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program aims to harmonize monitoring efforts across the Arctic in order to improve detection and reporting of important trends in biodiversity and to inform effective actions in response.

On Feb. 21-23, 2007 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey hosted a Climate Change Forum in Anchorage, Alaska. The forum included presentation of pertinent scientific findings to inform professionals about natural resources in Alaska that may be affected by accelerated climate change

FWS and USGS are examining appropriate managerial responses to these complex environmental changes.

For More Information on International Polar Year:

• USGS Polar Year Website
• Federal Polar Year Website
• International Polar Year Website